Planning Your Career Through Intense Interests

Planning a career around your special or intense interests is possible and, in fact, easier than you might think! If you're wondering how you can turn your love of animals, intense fascination of transportation or passion for information technology (and much more!) into a fulfilling career, that you will never get bored of, you've come to the right place!

Yenn Purkis and Barb Cook are leading autistic advocates, employees and business owners and are using their first-hand knowledge and the power of special interests to help you plan your future in this book. By straying from the conventional paths and thinking differently, Yenn and Barb could help take your passion for outer space and help transform you into a budding astronomer or even aerospace engineer!

Full of helpful advice and activities, including goal and vision setting, identifying your skills and personality attributes, looking at what makes a positive workplace, common attributes of autistic employees and business owners and challenging assumptions to name just a few, this book will help you to find work that you truly enjoy and thrive in the workplace.

Yenn Purkis is autistic and non-binary and has published a range of books with JKP since 2006. They actively speak at autism conferences and have increasingly spoken and written on autism and LGBTQ+ identities. They received the ACT Volunteer of the Year award for work in autism advocacy. Yenn lives in Canberra, Australia.



Barb Cook is a Neurodivergent Developmental Educator and holds a Master of Autism degree from the University of Wollongong. She is a published researcher on autism and mental health, and recent projects of self-determination and self-advocacy for autistic adults and youth suicide prevention. Barb is a prolific writer, speaker, and advocate on neurodivergence, and is founder of Spectrum Women Magazine, NeuroEmploy and the NeuroDiversity Hub, based in Gympie, Australia.